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HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, June 3, 2009) Â Taiwan yesterday released the first payment of the "2009 Solomon Islands Government Training and Award" of $ 10 million to Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua.

This was done during a meeting between Taiwanese ambassador George Chan and Dr Sikua.

Mr. Chan told the prime minister Taiwan will continue to fund the overseas scholarship programme, which will assist the Government support more than 600 students study overseas.

These are mainly at regional universities in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, USP Centre in Honiara and Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE).

The grant covers tuition fees and other allowances.

Chan said he was delighted to note the improvement management of scholarships and that only students with GPA 3 will receive scholarships.

This will enable students to study hard, and be of assistance to improve their...

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, June 2, 2009) Â The guns committee report was never meant to see the light of day, former internal security minister Bire Kimisopa said yesterday.

Mr. Kimisopa said despite the hard fact that 90 percent of the violent crimes committed in Papua New Guinea involved the use of guns, his efforts as minister responsible for police to table the guns committee report in Parliament, did not get any support from his cabinet colleagues.

"I tried to table the report in Parliament but was never given any opportunity," Mr Kimisopa said.

The report was commissioned by the Government and prepared by the National Guns Control Committee headed by former defence force commander Major Gen (retired) Jerry Singirok.

Kimisopa questioned why the Somare Government had still not seen fit to table the report despite the fact that it had a bipartisan report.

NOUMEA, New Caledonia (Oceania Flash, June 2, 2009) Â New Caledonia USTKE (Kanak and Exploited WorkersÂ Union) leader Gérard Jodar has been released under supervision measure on Tuesday, pending a local court hearing on June 16, where he will have to answer charges of causing disruption to air traffic and damages caused to public service property, local media report.

The charges relate to grave incidents that occurred on Thursday last week at New CaledoniaÂs capital Nouméa domestic airport.

USTKE had entered the tarmac security area in protest against the non-resolution of a dispute involving the sacking of one of its members.

The union demands that the employee, who was terminated from domestic airline Air Calédonie, be reinstated.

USTKEÂs action, on Thursday, triggered violent clashes with the local riot police, who used tear gas and deafening grenades against the militants.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Times, June 2, 2009) -Spokesman for the former Malaita combatants, Andrew Nori, has said institutional failure has led to the social unrest and the eventual intervention by the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI.

Speaking last week before the Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee on RAMSI, Mr. Nori said when the British left the country in 1978; they left behind the Westminster system of government and well structured systems and institutions in government.

Nori said the regulations they developed in finance, public service management and other guidelines like the use of government property are among the best in the world.

He said over the years the problem was the gradual moving away from observing the requirement of those rules and regulations.

Nori said during that period, he witnessed the growth of political interference into the affairs...

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Star, June 3, 2009) Â There are early indications that the country's 2009 revenues will be less than what was forecasted, resulting in an even larger deficit.

The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Pacific Economic Monitor (PEM) highlighted this in its bulletin released on Monday.

The report revealed that actual revenue for the first quarter of 2009, which is around $316 million [US$45.3 million] was down by about 11 percent compared to a forecast of SI$357 million [US$51.2 million] .

The report also noted that the fiscal deficit is expected to widen as revenues fall.

"The deficit reached 5.6 percent of GDP in 2008, due to high development and recurrent spending.

"A deficit equivalent to 3.6 percent of GDP is expected in 2009 as the wage and salary bill balloons.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, June 2, 2009) Â The death toll from the weekendÂs horrific PMV collusion on the Hiritano Highway has climbed to 21 as the Port Moresby General Hospital faces a frantic battle to save the lives of the rest of the people who were admitted with serious injuries. This is because the premier hospital in Papua New Guinea did not have the capacity to handle the large number of injured people admitted to its emergency wards, all at one time.

Sources at the hospital yesterday put the death toll as of 5.30pm at 21 - taking the number of deaths up from 15 when the accident happened at about 3pm on Saturday outside of Bereina in the Central Province.

He said 15 victims died on the scene of the accident and two more died while they were transported down from Bereina Health Centre on the same day and the next four died from the POMGH Emergency Ward while under-going resuscitation...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, June 2, 2009) Â The owners of the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea say the country needs to plan for the 2013 closure of the infamous mine or the country could face another "human catastrophe".

Ok TediÂs huge environmental problems in the late 1990s prompted BHP Billiton to divest its 52 per cent shareholding to the PNG Sustainable Development Program in 2002.

PNG SDP provides services and funds for the countryÂs severely affected Western Province, and other parts of PNG, out of the lucrative mineÂs gold and copper profits.

HAGÃ TÃA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, June 3, 2009) - Corrections officials continue to investigate how contraband was able to get into the most restrictive area of Guam's prison and whether corrections staff played a role in a thwarted jailbreak.

The Department of Corrections on Monday foiled an alleged plan for prisoners to break out of the Mangilao compound after officials received a tip. DOC officials also confiscated cellular phones, a sharpened piece of metal, a Swiss Army knife and a makeshift knife because of the tip, said DOC Director J.B. Palacios.

The corrections facility remains on partial lockdown, which means family visits, library privileges, classes and phone calls are more strictly limited. The maximum security unit, from where at least two prisoners planned to escape, remains on total lockdown, Palacios said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, June 2, 2009) Â The police on the island of Tangoa in Vanuatu say a strong earthquake injured four people, and caused damage to buildings and the water supply.

The strong 6.5-magnitude quake struck at a depth of 39 kilometres about 45 kilometres west of the capital Port-Vila on Tuesday.

The police in the capital say the tremor was felt there, but there were no reports of damage.

But a Police Inspector on the central island of Tangoa, Paul Thomson, say many of that islandÂs about 2000 inhabitants have been affected.

"WeÂve got damage in our wells where we collect our rainwater [for drinking], they were all damaged, and some buildings have cracks on the walls and we have landslides. We have about four people who are injured, but no one died."

Paul Thomson says the injured are being looked after and are in a stable condition.

SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, June 3, 2009) Â Two ranking officials of the U.S. Census BureauÂs Washington office are on island amid plans to gather more economic data about the CNMI, including determining for the first time its gross domestic product or GDP.

Lee R. Wentela, chief of the bureauÂs economic census branch, and Charles A. Funk, assistant division chief of the company statistics division, said they expect some CNMI data to be used by the General Accountability Office Â the investigating body of the U.S. Congress Â in future studies that it will release.

A GAO economic study is mandated to determine the impact of the federalization law as well as the mandatory yearly 50-cent increase on the islandsÂ hourly minimum wage until 2015.

Next week, another group of visiting officials from the Bureau of Economic Assessment is expected to arrive on Saipan for a separate...

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.